B.S., Animal Science, University of Wisconsin, 1983
M.S., Animal Physiology, University of Minnesota, 1987
Ph.D., Animal Physiology, University of Minnesota, 1990
Post Doc., National Zoological Park/Smithsonian Institution 1990-1993
Onnie earned her Ph.D. in reproductive
physiology from the University of Minnesota and completed a post doctoral
fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo in Washington D.C. She was a member of the
National Zoological Park's Mobile Laboratory Research team,
and participated in reproductive studies involving cheetah, pumas, tigers and
giant panda. Onnie joined the Conservation
Breeding Specialist Group in 1991 as a Program Officer and was promoted
to the position of Executive Director in 2005. In addition to her role in
managing and helping the Chairman, Bob Lacy, to lead the organization, Onnie
shares with CBSG’s Program Officers responsibility for organization, design and
facilitation of Population and Habitat Viability Assessments, Conservation
Assessment and Management Plans, and other CBSG workshops. Onnie is dedicated to
the transfer of these tools and processes to conservationists around the world
through the establishment and nurturing of CBSG's
regional and national Networks, and the
development and implementation of mass collaboration tools for
conservation. Onnie serves on the World Conservation Union’s
Biodiversity Assessment Sub Committee, on
the Sustainability Committee of the World
Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and is on the
Board or Directors of Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leaders (EWCL).
Onnie and her husband, Steven, a newscaster with Minnesota Public Radio, have
two children. William is thirteen years old
and Emily is eleven.
